Internal-combustion engine



Patented Jan. 5, 1926. I

D as .w nrram Y .A. .KEENE, or .KANSAS CITY, KANSAS.

mTEnNAncoMBUs'rIoN N IN lpplicatlon-filedltarch 25-, 1924. Serial No. 702,596.

To all whom itwmg concern: I

Be it known that I, EVILLIALYA. 'KEENE,

.a citizenof the United statearesiding at Kansas City,- :in the county of Vvyandotte and State of Kansas, 1 have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Internal- CombustionXEngines; andJI do declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention; such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertainsto make and use the same, reference 1 being had to the accompanying drawings,

. and to the figures of reference. marked thereon, which form: a part of this specification.

This invention relates to internal eombustion engines and'the primary object of thednvention is to provide an inexpensive efficient radial piston rotary engine-in which reciprocatorypistons are the power elements communicating power to a rotor which in turncontrols the fuel charges introduced into the combustion-chambers of the cylinders in which the pistons reciprocate.

The novel construction of the invent-ion will be apparentby reference to the followingdescription in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1.1s an end View of an BIIgIIIGCOIlstructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of'the engine.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line' 33 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on theline 4-4 of Fig. 3.

The base 1 may be of any preferred construction and it is appropriately attached to the stator 2 of the engine. 'The stator is a cylinder having fuel inlet ports 3 and 3. The rotor'et is afiy wheel having a segmental slot 5 constituting an exhaust port and an auxiliary exhaustport 6 is provided in the stator. The stator is provided with a crank case 7 communicating with which are two diametrically opposite cylinders, 8 and 9. open at their respective outer ends to communicate with-the exhaust port 5 when the exhaust. port. comes into register with them.

The cylinders 8 and-9 areprovided with appropriate pistons 10 and 11 connected to the crank 12 of the crank shaft 13 by connecting rods 14 .and 15 *in the usual manner, it being obvious that when one piston is moving on its power stroke the other piston is forcing out burnt gases through the exhaust port 5 so the two power elements following manner.

mounted 180 apart are two-cycle power elements therefore t-he engine is a two-cycle engine. 7

Fuel is admitted; to the cylinders in the The crank shaft 13 drives an eccentric 16 provided witha strap 17 connected to a cross head 18 in a guide 19. The cross head is connected to the piston rod 20 carrying the piston 21 in the cylinder 22. The cylinder 22 has two intake ports'23 and 24 to admit fuel to opposite ends thereof so that when the piston is moving'in one direction it is taking in a charge from one end of the cylinder and expelling it from theother end. Therefore I have provided check valves in casing 25 and 26 inthe pipes 23 and 2-;l, both pipes 23 and '24 being connected to a fuel supply. The

valves 25 and 26 unseat in an inward direction only and in opposite ends of the cylinders areinlet pipes 27 and 28 which are provided with valve casing 29 and 30 having outwardly opening check valves so that the pump cylinder and its appurtenances become 'a double acting sectional supply pump taking in a charge through pipe 23 when a corresponding charge 18 beingforced through pipe28 and taking in a chargethrough pipe 24 when acorresponding charge is belng forced through pipe 27. The pipe 27 discharges into a pocket or port 3. The pipe 28 discharges into the inlet or pocket 8. The rotor 4 is provided with a plurality of fuel receiving pockets 31 arranged in segmental series with the partitions 31 between them. The pockets 31 are adapted to register with the inlets 3 and 3' alternately so that when'the pockets register with the inlet 3 fuel may be supplied for piston 11 and when the pockets register with inlet 3 I fuel will be supplied for piston 10. The first pocket 31 in the series is shown as provided with a spark plug 32 adapted to provide a spark at the proper time since'the electric current for the spark plug is under the control of an appropriate timer indicated at 34. The ignition system may be of any type adequate to supply the necessary spark for the engine so I have deemed it unnecessary in this application to specificallyillustrate or describe any special type of ignition system.

The timber 34 is mounted on the disk 35 carried by the rotor 4 (see Fig; 4). The crank shaft may be turned over in any appr p ia e manner lll til the first chamber 31 is in communication with the end of one of the cylinders 8 or 9 at which time the timer will cause the spark plug to ignite the charge. The charge of course is under compression in each pocket 31 due to the fact that the pockets are charged by a pressure pump so the ignited'charge will expand to force the piston on its working stroke and while the working piston is moving toward the crank case the other piston is forcing the gas through the exhaust port 5. After the fuel is ignited in the first pocket 31 the successive charges will feed into the cylinder by bringing the successive pockets in register therewith so that a multiplicity of charges will successively feed into each cylinder at each working stroke of the piston and inasmuch as the first ignition of the gases in the first chamber 31 will provide combustible temperatures it is obvious that each successive charge will be ignited by the already exploded gases in the cylinder during the working stroke of the piston, consequently it will not be necessary to have a spark plug in each pocket 31. In View of the fact that a multiplicity of explosions or ignitions take place in each cylinder during each working stroke of each piston it is apparent that the pressure in the cylinder will be maintained relatively high during the entire working stroke of the piston, consequently the power derived from the piston will be practically uniform during the entire working stroke of the piston in which particular the engine materially differs from those engines in which the greatest power is delivered at the moment of ignition and consequently the power decreases as the charge expands.

The exhaust port 5 will be in communication with the cylinder 8 for example during the time that the piston in cylinder 9 is doing useful work and then the end of the exhaust port will be reached and the first pocket or chamber 31' will then communicate with cylinder 8 while the exhaust port 5 is communicating with cylinder 9. Power may be taken off either the crank shaft or off the rotor casing.

It will be apparent that the engine can be inexpensively constructed and that it will consist of a minimum number of parts, easily machined and assembled.

iVha-t I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 1

1. An internal combustion motor comprising a stator having oppositely disposed cylinders and a crank case between them, a crank shaft mounted in the crank case, reciprocatory pistons in the cylinders connected to the crank shaft, a rotor about the periphery of the stator having a plurality of fuel delivering pockets arranged in series adapted to successively communicate with the cylinders and an exhaust port with which the cylinders may intermittently register, means for feeding fuel into the several pockets in series under pressure and means for igniting the fuel charges.

2. An internal combustion engine comprising a circular stator, having radial cylinders therein and a crank case, the cylinders being open at the periphery of the stator, pistons in the radial cylinders, a crank shaft connecting them, a rotor connected to the crank shaft and having a portion overlapping the stator, the overlapping portion having a segmental exhaust opening and a plurality of fuel pockets in segmental series to intermittently register with the open ends of the cylinders, the pockets being arranged to register with the cylinders successively during the working stroke of the piston and means for introducing fuel into the pockets under pressure.

3. An internal combustion engine comprising a circular stator having oppositely disposed cylinders with a crank case between them, the ends of the cylinders being open, a crank shaft in the crank case, connecting rods on the crank shaft, the connecting rods being 180 apart, a rotor connected to the crank shaft and having a rim overlapping the periphery of the stator, a segmental series of fuel pockets in the rim adapted to successively register with the cylinders during the working stroke of the piston, there being an exhaust port in the rimto register with one cylinder when the fuel pockets are in register with the other cylinder and means for supplying fuel under pressure to the pockets.

4:. An internal combustion engine comprising a plurality of cylinders, pistons in the cylinders, a crank shaft connected to the cylinders. the ends of the cylinders being radial to the axis of the crank shaft and having open outer ends, a rotor connected to the crank shaft, a. rim on the rotor overlapping the open ends of the cylinders, a segmental row of fuel pockets in the rim to register with the open ends of the cylinders during the rotation of the rotor, the rotor having segmental slot comprising an exhaust opening to register with one cylinder when the pockets are registering with another cylinder and means for introducing fuel into the pocket under pressure.

In testimony whereof I affix my sig nature.

WILLIAM A. KEENE. 

